Cutting the cord...need education on smart TVs, Roku, netflix, Amazonprime, etc

We cut the cord about two years ago.  Air antenna for the upstairs tv and basic cable from ATT (free with the internet) for the downstairs tv.  Funny how 10 ft and a few pine trees affect tv reception.  From there, we have roku on both using mainly Sling orange and blue, CBS all access, and Philo(gets me the Discovery stuff).  We had Hulu but just didnt use it enough to justify its expense.  Sling gets me the ESPN's, SEC network and a DVR.   We dont watch movies so the on-demand stuff is wasted on us.  There are some minor inconveniences ie frozen pics, missing channels ie Velocity, up to a minute in broadcast delays but nothing worth the $130 that we save every month.  We wont go back.   

In reply to loosecannon :

totally forgot about Plex. We use the crap out of that

I like Roku.  This is all they do, they are not trying to monopolize my world.  Inexpensive with a good interface.  One of mine is a very early one and its still responsive and gets reception beyond my smart tv's range. 

I just went through this:  smart TV, blu-ray player, home theater.

I also echo the sentiment about keeping them separate, but it is getting harder to find any component that ISN'T smart.  The smart TV I got is 4K and HDR, so I wanted a good blu-ray player to go with it and they were all smart.

I think it comes down to a redundancy thing and a price thing.  The Smart TVs aren't really much more than dumb ones, and I found the on-board apps with my blu-ray player to be horrifically glitchy and slow.  I use the blu-ray just for dvds and I'm a little regretful that I paid a premium for as little as I watch DVDs.  I paid almost as much for the blu-ray as I did the 55" tv and I haven't used it once except to make sure it works.

When it comes to smart stuff, I strongly recommend Roku.  They have all the apps you'll ever need and you can add apps from the "store" although they 99% free for the app.  Super simple interface and easy to use.  I pay for Netflix and Prime and that is all I need.  I also have an HD antenna, and other apps from the store that are really handy; ABC, Fox, Crackle, Popcorn, NBC, and about 20 others that all keep me happy

The setup I have is a TCL 55" smart Roku TV and Samsung's top of the line blu-ray player.  I think I'll move the smart blu-ray to the bedroom when I hang my 32" dumb TV in there so I can have the apps there too, but I don't like how slow and glitchy the Samsung apps are.

So overall I'm spending about $60/mo for everything; internet, netflix, and prime, but I probably save a fair amount of that back in my pocket from Amazon shipping being free.  It has motivated me to do more Amazon shopping (which is what they want) for more mundane things; laundry detergent, toilet paper, and other things that need to be bought every couple months.  Its also cheaper than the grocery store, so I feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of it.

For simplicity's sake I got a TV with the Roku built in for the dealership, Roku does upgrade so I'm not worried about upgrading and I like the convenience of only needing 1 remote.  It also makes for a cleaner install.  The channels you install will depend on what you like and want to watch.  Personally I kept basic cable for the OTA channels and some basic other ones.  It only came out $10-15 more than just internet and phone.

we've been cord-cutters since 2006

current setup is 2 HP Chromeboxes (4gig ram) with K400+ keyboards, HDMI into dumb TV's.  Used to have a MacMini, and a couple other small Windows HTPC's.

We only use YouTube, and Netflix.  Might sign up for MoD down the road, hard to say.

I can't stand watching the news, so I go and read it instead.  You can probably replace the History Channel with YouTube content, possibly cooking stuff too.  If you do, make sure to religiously regulate your subscriptions.  Then you can use your "subscriptions" page to keep up with things you want to watch, and rely less on the front page algorithm.  Sometimes we'll buy a pack of DVD's for a show we like... and sometimes we rent movies from YouTube.  Only "live events" I really enjoy anymore involve RadioLeMans commentary... 

We're currently on FiOS, so the connection is $60/month... but we don't have a landline, and our two cellphones are usually around $30/month.  All-in, we're at $100 for "comms"

I dunno. I’ve been neglecting to look at what we’re paying. Between sling Orange PLUS Blue PLUS the “sports package” to get redzone, PLUS Netflix, PLUS Amazon Prime, PLUS HBO GO or “Now” or whatever, we might be better off just doing cable or dish, since we really hardly watch TV, aside from 2 or 3 shows and NFL.

I haven't had cable for over 10 years.
 

I hear everyone saying get a dumb TV, but the RokuTV (they are cheap) has a really great interface and the non-IR remote is great to have. (example: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=tcl+55%22+smart+tv+with+roku&_dyncharset=UTF-8&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=category_facet%3DSAAS~4K+Ultra+HD+TVs~pcmcat333800050003&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys)

It isn't like a SmartTV doesn't have HDMI inputs and is locked down to the integrated player only.  If it doesn't cost anything extra, why not?

I use Plex like the dickens.  I have about 30TB worth of media hooked up to it.  Plex + Roku is my favorite media experiance, by far.  I also utilize Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Netflix is free (yay! T-Mobile) and I'd have Prime for the shipping anyways.

I tried YoutubeTV, because my kids wanted YouTubeRed, but the YoutubeRed that comes with it doesn't skip commercials so I canceled it during the trial.

I tried sling as well, because ESPN, but it is terrible for sports.  The moment a scheduled end time is hit it stops playing and you would need to go back to the guide and select the next show.  Terrible at the end of a game.

 

Oh, there is a free Roku App (probably available for more platforms) called PlutoTV that has a lot of interesting content and movies.

Speaking of Plex.... 

Anyone with shared libraries want to be "friends"?

In reply to m4ff3w :

I agree about the built-in versus standalone "dumb" TVs.  There are benefits to both sides.  I got my TCL 55" HDR 4K smart TV for $399 on super sale from Target (or some similar big box store, I forget).  That was a no-brainer purchase.

My usual reason for recommending separate things is that they sometimes suck and/or fail.  My TCL has already given me a couple fits and I had to do a hard reset (and the subsequent re-logging in, reloading the apps I want, etc) because Prime and Netflix kept crashing at 13 seconds into playback.  its a known problem and I think I have it solved with the latest update.

For that reason I tend to prefer separate components.  If one thing fails, you're not without half of your system for however long it takes to fix or replace.

Cord cut last week.

Using HULU-Live.  I get most of what basic cable gave me (50-ish channels), all my local affiliates and all the sports I need including all the ESPNs, and FOX Sports' etc.  I watched the Rolex24 with no issues.

It's $40/mo.  It has a cloud based DVR too.

If you get a firestick you can crack it and get all pay per views and premium stations for free. All that is required is a solid network, They are a little fussy about staying connected to weak signals.

We cut the cord years ago and now have an Apple TV. We pay for Netflix and Hulu. Add in YouTube and whatever else is out there, and we have plenty to watch. Love it. (Also, I should add, I watch maybe 2-3 hours of TV per week.)

Which is better: Sling TV or Hulu-Live? We could care less about sports, but like shows like Modern Family, HDTV, Nova, Nature, Science-stuff.

Currently I've got Amazon Prime and PBS "donation". PBS is nice to have to watch older Masterpiece shows, Nova and Nature. 

Amazon Prime kinda sucks, because as soon as you're into a show the second season costs money (The Expanse). That being said, the free shipping and other benefits of prime make it worthwhile...that is until I stop buying stuff on Amazon (which I really should do.)

We get Netflix on a monthly basis, typically binge watching the new stuff on Netflix, then ditching it for a few months, then coming back to it when were hear good stuff about new series. 

I don't know how you guys get so much stuff on Plex. 

We're about halfway through this process ourselves now- the only reason I've not canceled our IPTV (Windstream Kinetic) is that SWMBO is still finishing up watching the last of the stuff on the DVR, after that point (I need to prod her more to watch that stuff instead  of binging shows she's already seen *coughGraysAnatomycough* on Netflix) I can cancel the TV and just drop down to internet-only from Windstream.

Hardware-wise we've got two of the first-generation app-store capable AppleTVs (one for each TV), a cheap but so far pretty effective OTA antenna, and a Tablo Dual OTA DVR with two 'dumb' TVs. Have had Prime for a while buy only now starting to use the Prime Video portion, and started Netflix at the beginning of the year. The Tablo does a pretty good job of handling recording broadcast network shows which are about 60% of what we have typically watched- so far I'm pretty happy with the guide on it and when the free trial of it expires at the end of the first month I'll either drop the money for the lifetime subscription or at least a yearly one. The Tablo plays through an AppleTV app, so the AppleTV is the hub for everything now, including watching live broadcast TV via the Tablo (though we can switch over to the antenna directly through the TV).

We've discussed getting Sling to pick up the non-broadcast channels (essentially Bravo, SyFy, Animal Planet, Food Network, A&E, BBCA though less so now since they're not renewing Dirk Gently, and Discovery) that we watch things on but are initially going to go without and see how much we really miss having it in hopes that we find we don't really care with what Netflix & Prime Video have.

The initial investment in hardware was kind of steep since I replaced two pre-app-store AppleTVs with the newer ones, but the savings should make up for it after about a year. And honestly, if it drives us to watch less TV as well and do other stuff, that's also worth the cost.

pheller said:

I don't know how you guys get so much stuff on Plex. 

 

Bittorrent.

Though sadly I have not had the best of luck with the Plex server on my iMac (keeps freezing up), but also haven't needed to use it that much yet either.

m4ff3w said:

I use Plex like the dickens.  I have about 30TB worth of media hooked up to it.  Plex + Roku is my favorite media experiance, by far.  I also utilize Netflix and Amazon Prime.  

This is my basic setup as well. If you're computer savvy at all, I'd strongly recommend looking into EasyNews. It compliments Plex/Roku well by allowing you to find all sorts of elusive content. 

pheller said:

Which is better: Sling TV or Hulu-Live? 

I strongly prefer Hulu. I haven't found a ton of interesting content on Sling nor Amazon

Youtube TV is something I just learned about. I think it is $35 a month but you can split it with up to 6 users and stream on 3 devices at once so you can split it with family. This gets something like 40 channels that are the usual basic cable channels. This seems like a better deal than some of the other live channel options as you can record any show with unlimited hours of recording. This might be where I end up if I ever get internet at home!

https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/

In reply to singleslammer :

YouTube TV is only available in a select number of cities at the moment- it's not yet available in my area (Lexington KY) yet, for example, so if you're not in a larger city then it's unlikely to be an option for the time being.

I've been a YouTube Red subscriber for a while, but I've been reluctant to try YouTube TV because no app was available for our AppleTV and Roku devices... but that's no longer the case. Apps are now available even for Xbox and smart tvs.  I look forward to trying it out.

I really can't speak intelligently about all the apps.

I pay for Prime and Netflix and watch them almost exclusively for entertainment.  Between the news apps and the antenna I have local and international news.  I used to watch FoxNow for free (Orville is one of my faves) but they recently went to "enter your provider log-in" meaning you evidently have to have a cable subscription including that channel to watch it free now.

I do occasionally watch Crackle, Popcorn, Pluto, and the Roku Channel (all free) for variety.  I haven't really looked into the other pay/subscription sites.  I did look at what Sling and Hulu had to offer and it didn't make me want to open my wallet.  So far in the 6 months or so that I have cut the cord, I have been more than happy with Prime and Netflix so I haven't had much drive to check out the others.

I will say, however, that over the last couple years of having Netflix, it has not held my interest as much.  Their big-name content has dwindled in favor of their own productions... which are wonderful, but I'm getting tired of "here, watch this awesome Jessica Jones series and then wait 2.5 years for season 2."  or "we know Stranger Things is great, but you don't get another season until all the actors are half way through puberty."

In reply to singleslammer :

yeah, I just heard about this through spacecadet... although I'll have to do some more research to see if my chromeboxes can bet used (I'm finding conflicting info)... and I might wait 'till after the "big move" to use the 7day free trial and test it's viability

youtubeTV finally released their Roku app the other day, too.

If you get local network TV strong and clear OTA (which I agree is awesome) but you want cable channels.. but not sports, 

https://try.philo.com/#lineups

$16/month with DVR in the cloud (save shows for thirty days). 

Cut the cord about a year ago. Using Roku. Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go, and DirectTV Now. The latter offers a cloud DVR service (as does Youtube TV, Sling, Hulu, etc.) for an additional cost. Cloud DVRs introduce an amount of lag due to buffering when interrupting playback that you normally don't get with your old in-home DVR.

The thing I've noticed is that prices continue to climb on streaming services. It's almost to the point where the cable tv/internet bundle is about the same price as just internet + streaming services of your choice + cloud DVR add-on, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the exercise. Worse, the streaming ecosystem continues to fracture as other players (Disney, NBC) enter the market and remove their content from Netflix, etc. so you'll end up paying for even more services in the future if you want their content. As far as I know, no true a-la-carte streaming service has emerged that'll let you pay a fair price for just the 5 or 6 channels you really want to watch and it doesn't look like that'll ever happen.

My prediction: streaming services will supplant cable tv eventually but the majority of consumers won't end up saving an appreciable amount of money or getting a better quality of service in the long run.